Labour expels TD after bank guarantee vote

THE Government has lost a third TD after Labour’s Tommy Broughan voted against a coalition proposal to extend the bank guarantee scheme.

Mr Broughan was expelled from the Labour parliamentary party after his decision to vote with the Opposition.

Labour chief whip Emmet Stagg said Mr Broughan’s actions were regarded “as a grievous breach of party discipline” and he had been expelled “with immediate effect”.

Mr Broughan follows Willie Penrose and Denis Naughten off the Government benches.

Former housing minister Mr Penrose resigned from both Government and the Labour parliamentary party last month following the Cabinet decision to close an army barracks in his constituency.

Mr Naughten was expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party in July after voting against the Government decision to close the A&E department in Roscommon Hospital.

Mr Broughan, who opposed the Labour decision to enter coalition with Fine Gael, had been widely expected to oppose elements of next week’s budget and lose the party whip then.

In the event, his expulsion came slightly earlier than expected after he voted twice with the Opposition yesterday.

He first supported a Sinn Féin call to extend the amount of time being given to debate the proposed extension of the guarantee scheme. But the Government comfortably won that vote by 85 to 42.

Following the 65-minute debate, Mr Broughan then opposed the proposal to extend the scheme.

But again the Government won comfortably, by 98 votes to 30.

The coalition, which won a total of 113 seats in the general election, is now down to 111 — the three losses partially offset by the victory of Labour’s Patrick Nulty in the Dublin West by-election.

But with only 83 votes required for a Dáil majority, the Government remains in no danger of losing votes.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Michael Noonan defended the decision to extend the guarantee scheme — known as the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee — for another year.

The scheme is now guaranteeing about €100 billion of liabilities — principally bank deposits over €100,000 and various debt securities.

Bank deposits of up to €100,000 are covered by a separate scheme, meaning customers’ deposits are protected by the state.